Services for Rosemary Martin, 73, of Tracy, will take place at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, July 13, 2024, at the Horvath Remembrance Center in Marshall. Visitation will be one hour prior to the service at the Remembrance Center. Rosemary died on Wednesday, June 26, 2024, at the Avera Marshall Regional Medical Center in Marshall after a lengthy illness with ovarian cancer. The Horvath Funeral Service in Marshall is handling the arrangements.
Rosemary Juliana Krueger Martin was born on June 19, 1951, to Royal and Vernette Krueger at the Tracy Hospital in Tracy Minnesota. She grew up on the Krueger farm south of Tracy and like most farm kids, learned to drive a tractor at an early age. She started school at St. Mary there. Rosemary went on to attend Tracy High School, and was in the Marching Band and was a great student. She witnessed the tornado that hit Tracy in 1968. She aided in the recovery and later volunteered as a health aide at the hospital. She went on to become a Certified Nurse’s Aide, an LPN, and finally a Registered Nurse. She also was a long haul truck driver, a cowhand for the V7 ranch in Chino Valley, Arizona, and a Property Manager. During all that time, she managed to get married four times (the last one stuck) and have five kids, seven grandchildren, and three great- grandchildren. Rosemary led a full, energetic, joyous life. Rosemary met her last husband, Michael in Arizona. They were together for 35 years, and they were partners, working with her side by side. Rosemary was always trying to help people. In the classroom, she was a tomboy, and played sports, and she supported other students against bullies. Throughout her life she volunteered for many civic causes, and loved to serve as a member on several committees. She was a proud activist and advocate for the little guy from the 60’s on, participating in the local DFL, eventually serving until her death as SD15 party chair. While she could, she supported candidates in every march, and volunteered her time in the phone banks and door knocking. She was an OES member, where she helped raise money for scholarships and the food shelf. She was a supporter of Planned Parenthood, and the right to choose,and was an ally for the LGBTQ community. In her job as a property manager, she always worked with people with compassion and forthrightness. Rosemary and Michael took their kids to church every Sunday at St. James Episcopal church in Marshall MN, where she was a member of the vestry, the choir, and the lay reader team. It was a homily by an Episcopal Bishop, who preached doing well by doing well that gave her inspiration for the property management and development business, Michael and Rosemary Martin Properties, where she loved to keep tabs on until the very end. She also was an avid horse person, and from the time of her first horse when she was 17, she always cared for a small herd. She drove cattle for the V7 Ranch, and used her first horse to work the cattle at the home farm. She encouraged her children to ride, and loved to help them with 4H. Nursing and caring for people was not only her avocation, but also her profession, and she worked throughout Southeastern Minnesota in home health care, hospice, and nursing homes. In the 90’s she worked as a nurse’s aide in an AIDS unit in Chateau Health Care Center in Minneapolis. She loved to care for others, and she loved to manage a great team. She was very proud of her ability to get a low-scoring nursing home and turning it around into a high-scoring facility by the time of the next state survey.
Rosemary lost a two-year battle with ovarian cancer on June 26, 2024. She was grateful to Prairie Home Hospice and its aides, doctors, and nurses. It was the closing of the circle, and she was one of the nurses when they were just starting out. She was treated at the Mayo Cancer Center in both Rochester and Mankato. She loved her doctors and nurses, and, of course, tried to unionize them.
Rosemary is survived by her husband Michael, her daughters, Vernette and Marjorae, and her sons Raymond, George, and Jeremiah, her brothers Richard, Roger, and Robert, and Rodney, her grandchildren Alexandra, Diego, Alexander, Christian, Samuel, and Neveah, and Diana, and her greatgrandchildren Azriel, Lilith, and Ambrose. Rosemary was preceded in death by her parents Royal and Vernette Krueger, and her brothers Ronald, and Raleigh.
